The People’s Vote: 100 Documents That Shaped America

Oct 06, 2003

Washington, DC... On Bill of Rights Day, Monday, December 15, 2003 at 9 a.m. in a special ceremony in the National Archives Building Rotunda, the National Archives and Records Administration will announce the results of The People's Vote, the Top Ten documents that were voted as the most influential in U.S. history.

U.S. News & World Report joined with the National Archives and National History Day to host The People's Vote: 100 Documents That Shaped America. Between September 17 and December 1, the public is invited to vote for the Top Ten documents from a list of 100 milestone documents chosen primarily from the holdings of the National Archives.

On September 17, 2003, the National Archives launched the second part of a major civics initiative with President Bush, at the rededication of the National Archives Rotunda. The People's Vote: 100 Documents That Shaped America, is a national challenge to engage Americans in a lively and thoughtful debate about which documents in American history are the most influential-which changed the course of history, shaped the United States, and defined us as a people. The documents are featured on a special web site: www.ourdocuments.gov, in partnership with National History Day and the USA Freedom Corps. They are also the focus of a new book entitled Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives, published by Oxford University Press.